


A New Chance

by Leni



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Rumbelle, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 16:26:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9080338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: AU 4A.Baelfire never died.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written at Comment Fic for Classics Lover. Prompt_Any (please no SPN), any +/ any, someone who was supposed to die lived (RIP George Michael)

The sound of the bell ringing had seldom announced good news at the pawnshop. For one moment, Rumpelstiltskin had started to smile at the sight of his son, always happy to welcome Baelfire for a visit.

The presence of a packed suitcase made the smile vanish as Rumpelstiltskin swallowed in dread instead. He had known that he would lose Baelfire's trust in time. He had known that his son was wary of magic - and Storybrooke was simply reeking with it. He had hoped that Henry's presence would buy him a few more weeks with his son, perhaps even a few months, but it seemed that Emma's new relationship with the pirate had been the last straw. "I guess I should thank you," he said, trying for a steady voice.

It was for the best, Rumpelstiltskin reminded himself. The path he had chosen to get rid of the dagger's control would eventually make Baelfire rescind his forgiveness.

At least he would be spared his son's hate this time.

"Thank me?"

Rumpelstiltskin gave a dry chuckle. "For coming to tell your Papa goodbye."

Bae's eyes widened. "What?" He followed the direction of Rumpelstiltskin's raised eyebrows to his side. To the suitcase there. Rolled his eyes. "We need to talk about jumping to the worst-case scenarios, Papa," he grumbled. "I'm not leaving - well, I _am_ , but the plan is to take you along."

That, more than anything, left Rumpelstiltskin speechless.

"Come on, Papa. You really think I came here with a patent leather suitcase that probably costs as much a three months of rent?" He laughed at what he perceived as extravagance and Rumpelstiltskin didn't even notice as out of the ordinary. Mr. Gold's tastes were still his most reliable reference to this world's customs, and Mr. Gold had thought nothing of getting the best and most expensive. Baelfire seemed to take notice of his father's puzzlement, so he only shook his head in amusement and continued. "Belle gave it to me. She packed it too. And no - for God's sake, no - she's not trying to get rid of you. She's just taking a few days before joining us so she can leave the library in good hands." He sighed irritably. Rubbed his forehead as if warding off a headache. "That woman married you, Papa. Can't you at least trust her a little?" 

This time there was a thread of anger, or perhaps disappointment, in Bae's voice. 

He had become Belle's friend during their weeks in the Enchanted Forest, and the two of them had resumed that friendship in Storybrooke. That was good, Rumpelstiltskin reminded himself. Even when his son got angry at him over a perceived slight against his stepmother, it still meant that they were family.

"I trust her," he said softly, even though a howling chorus in his mind repeated over and over that soon, unless he played his hand to perfection, he would be losing her as well.

"Fine showing you make of it," Baelfire retorted. Then shook his head. "Look. We know you're not well. Or, okay, Belle agreed after I pointed some very odd behavior out to her. You know she has the opposite problem, right? She trusts you too much. But then," he chuckled humorlessly, "she's never seen you plotting something big, has she?"

"Bae...."

Baelfire gave a quick head shake. "I don't want to know."

Rumpelstiltskin had a dozen ways to make his plans sound more palatable. To insist how it was necessary that the dagger be rendered powerless - no matter what. He knew he was in the right, believed it to the marrow of his bones.

He also knew that Baelfire would only see the damage inflicted instead of the benefits gained.

Better that he said nothing, then.

"I thought so." Baelfire heaved a tired sigh. "I told Emma that keeping Zelena in jail was a recipe for disaster, but she brushed me off. Said I was too close to the situation." Both father and son gave identical sneers at the thought of the woman who had imprisoned them for the better part of a year. "Emma is right, of course. I don't have the head to be objective," he admitted. "Which makes me wonder, Papa. If I'm the more level-headed of the two of us, and I got away from her earlier, and I _still_ want to break in and make sure that bitch never steps on the street again... what are you thinking of?"

"That she's not worth the trouble."

There were other reasons for Zelena's continued well-being, of course. Regina had promised to give Henry full permission to bond with his father in the name of family harmony... if Rumpelstiltskin didn't disturb that harmony first. There was also the fact that, as bothersome as Zelena's company had been, he couldn't fault her for her greediness for power.

Hadn't he once set out to steal the Dark One's dagger for himself?

In the end, he felt no more hostility against her than he did against any of the fools who'd tried to control him. That she had succeeded even gave him a twisted sense of pride, as any teacher would feel for an underrated student who had surpassed his expectations.

Zelena was a nuisance, nothing more.

But he would make sure she was the last who would hold his own power against him.

"Which means that you have plans for something bigger," Baelfire said.

Rumpelstiltskin said nothing. His son's instincts were right, and a lie would only add to his sins when the truth was revealed.

"That bad, eh?"

"No..." Rumpelstiltskin licked his lips. It wasn't a bad idea. It _wasn't._ "...You know what the dagger does."

There was little surprise in Baelfire's reaction. "Of course. The dagger," he muttered, in the tone of someone who should have seen the obvious. He still took a few seconds to digest that, glancing at the ceiling as if the right answer was hiding there, but at last shook his head. 

"No," he said firmly. "However that works, someone will pay the price for it."

"Bae..."

"I'm not trying to blame you, Papa. I get it. I really think I do. This time... No, I'm not blaming you." He met Rumpelstiltskin's eyes, bringing to the fore the anguish of months spent in that cell shared between them. His lips curled into a bitter resemblance of a smile. They weren't father and son, but fellow soldiers with a ghastly ordeal behind them they would never forget. "I was there, remember? Belle might believe true love heals all, but I was in your shoes and love has done squat to get rid of the nightmares."

"There's a potion---"

"Of course there is," Baelfire cut him off. "That's not the point."

"The point is that you're leaving." Rumpelstiltskin couldn't blame him. His son had spent his whole life in this world outrunning magic. It was unfair to believe he could make his home in Storybrooke after magic had come so close to killing him. "I understand, Bae," he told him, trying to smile.

Baelfire shook his head, huffing in impatience. "The point," he stressed out, pointing at the expensive suitcase at his feet, "is that you're coming with me. This place is poison to you. All the magic, all the power struggles... You have money as Mr. Gold, Papa. If it's power you want, that's all you need in the outside world."

"It's not that simple..."

"Only because you always complicate everything!" Baelfire took a deep breath. "You will slip again, Papa. If you cannot bring yourself to share your plans with me or with Belle, then you know you're going where we can't follow."

"Son... no. Listen."

"No." Baelfire raised his voice for the first time in the conversation, giving the single syllable all the power of his conviction. "No," he repeated in a softer tone, "you listen to me. It's not worth it. Whatever it is, it's not worth alienating the people who love you."

To be rid of the dagger's control. That could change everything. That would finally set him free. If only he could make Baelfire understand...

"But I could-"

"Lose Belle."

Rumpelstiltskin shook his head. _She loves me,_ he wanted to protest, but he knew from experience that a wife's love was finite. Break her hopes, destroy her image of him, and no woman could want to go down with him. He had always known that his time with Belle had an invisible deadline, and yet he had always hoped to push it a little further away. But if he made a single mistake this time....

"Lose me," Baelfire continued implacably.

A whimper almost escaped him. Three hundred years of inexhaustible search. The pain of believing his son dead after he'd found him, followed by a year of unending terror that his grip on Baelfire would fail, that a moment's weakness would kill his son. "Bae, please...."

He didn't realize that he'd reached out until Baelfire grasped his hand and gave it a hard squeeze. 

"I don't want to lose you either, Papa." His son met his eyes. "Let's just go away. I know you can break through the barrier at the town line, and if you can only do it once, then Belle has already told me she'd leave it all behind."

"What about Henry?"

Baelfire paled a little. "We have the internet," he said. "He has his mothers. Emma's parents. Hell, even Hook will pitch in and take a bullet for the kid if necessary - or Emma will put one in him if he misses his chance."

"I believe Regina would be quicker with a fireball."

The two of them chuckled at the thought of the pirate's likely future. Being attached to the Charmings was not a safe position in any world. "The point is," Baelfire told him, "Henry doesn't need me right now."

"And I do?"

Baelfire gave him a hard look. "My son isn't planning something that will make the whole world hate him - _again_." He paused, giving a wordless challenge to deny the charge. Rumpelstiltskin said nothing. Baelfire exhaled, then said, "So, yes, until you choose a new path, you need me more."

"I can't ask you to leave your child-"

"I'm not," he said firmly. "And you aren't asking. You never do. That's half the problem."

Rumpelstiltskin meant to protest, or maybe refuse outright. But the look in his son's eyes gave him pause. He was familiar with a similar set of features... on his own face. When he had decided to make a suicidal one-man charge into the duke's palace. When he had decided to disregard prophecy and save the boy who would doom him. When he had decided that there was only one way to stop Pan permanently...

Baelfire had decided that helping his father was worth the sacrifice of time with his son.

Rumpelstiltskin swallowed thickly, unsure of how to handle this situation. He had always been the one called to others' help, always the one demanding equal payment for the requests he granted.

Never had anyone offered a price so great for so simple a request

"Bae. I have to know. Are you sure?"

Baelfire smiled, clasped his other hand on his father's shoulder. "Of course, Papa."

Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes. He would still be under the curse, and there would always be the chance that someone would take hold of the dagger. But people in this world didn't believe in magic, and people in Storybrooke were kept too busy to come after him. If one should try, he trusted Emma enough to warn Baelfire of the danger.

"Tonight," he said at last, trying not to tremble at the weight of his choice. He couldn't trust himself not to cross back if he came close to the town line again, so he made sure to add, "Tell Belle to be ready. If we leave, we leave together."

Baelfire nodded. "What will you do, Papa?"

Secure the pawnshop against intruders. Choose which items to take along... just in case. Make one last deal to secure safe passage.

What Ingrid did with the ribbons would not be his trouble anymore.

"Arrangements."

Baelfire nodded again. "All right," he said, relief evident in the line of his shoulders as he stepped back toward the door. "Call us when you're ready?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded.

A long time ago, he had made a deal with his boy to follow him into an unknown land.

It had finally come the time to fulfill that promise.

"I'll be ready," he said.

He was lying, of course. But he was good at believing his own lies.

"I'll be there," Baelfire reassured him, looking understanding. "I'll talk to Belle too, don't worry."

Because Belle would have high hopes, happily walking around the pitfalls unless someone pointed them out. In the meanwhile, Rumpelstiltskin would avoid that conversation until it was too late and his actions had already pushed her in.

Baelfire would see the signs, if something went wrong.

If anyone knew how it felt to be the Dark One and yet powerless - as he would be in a world without magic - it was Baelfire. He had suffered through month after month of Zelena's imprisonment, and was the only witness to Rumpelstiltskin's impotence and helpless rages. He must have a good idea of what Rumpelstiltskin would be feeling, once cut off from his magic.

"I would never ask you for more than you're able to do, Papa."

Rumpelstiltskin smiled at that. "Thanks, Bae. I needed to hear that."

Because he might not be able to trust himself, but if Baelfire did, then some part of him must be a man worth his boy's regard.

That was something he had always aspired to be.

Outside Storybrooke, perhaps he finally would have the chance to become that man.

 

The End  
27/12/16

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!
> 
> *points at comment box*


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